Rec FrontierSpace
Rec FrontierSpace
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FrontierSpace Player's Handbook
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Rating [5 of 5 Stars!]
Rating [4 of 5 Stars!]
Rating [5 of 5 Stars!]
Rating [5 of 5 Stars!]
Rating [5 of 5 Stars!]
This is a work of love and passion. You can see the guys at DwD studios put an insane amount of
work and energy into this project, and the result is a top notch, rules-lite, modern RPG which also
retains that nostalgic old school feeling.
The game is openly inspired to old school RPGs (specifically, the classic RPG Star Frontiers from
TSR), but don't get fooled this is a modern game, which benefits from all the experience gained in
decades of Role-Playing.
Presentation
The layout is clean and professional. The art is very good, especially considering the low price of
the final product.
A special mention should be made for the included fillable PDF character sheet, which is invaluable
for modern players IMHO.
Rules
This new incarnation and evolution of the D00 Lite system used in previous games from DwD
studios (BareBones Fantasy, White Lies and Covert Ops) gives more value to an already great
ruleset. Basically, all abilities and skills are percentiles, and rolling less than or equal to your score
on a D100 grants you success. You get a critical success or failure when the tens die and the units
die show the same number. It's a system that's both very effective and very easy to use in practice.
There are six base abilities (strength, agility, coordination, perception, intelligence and willpower)
which can be used directly for actions that do not require any specialization or can be combined
with 12 skills that cover all the needs for any modern or sci-fi setting, ranging from Academic to
Explorer, Marksman, Pilot, etc. And you can add your custom skills to cover anything that's specific
to your setting or not in the rules. My personal pet peeve, and possibly the only weakness in the
ruleset, is the absence of a charisma ability (willpower is used instead) - although you can easily
add it if you want all the rules will just keep working with no conversion or adaptation needed.
Skill may have specializations, and some skills (like for example Technician or Scientist) require
you to specialize, granting you a bonus on a more specific field of application (for example, a
Scientist can specialize in Life Science or Physical Science, etc.).
There's also a neat rule for Advantage and Disadvantage, which is tightly connected with how the
skill system and racial bonuses work.
Most rules are either optional or very easy to modify to your liking, and that makes the game an
excellent starting point to build your customized RPG experience, if you need to. In my opinion this
may be one of the best selling points for this game!
Characters
Character creation is a process that can take only a few minutes, but does not sacrifice anything in
terms of flexibility and character customization. With the way skills work, you can actually create
your customized class every time you create a new character - all in an easy and quick way.
There are five playable species in the game, including humans and robots, each with a specific set
of options to create a unique character. In the Referee's Handbook, which should get published in a
few weeks, you also get an awesome chapter with rules to create your own customized species, and
a few other boons like psionic powers to further enhance your characters.
Character progression is designed to be sligthly on the slow side, in line with the old school feel of
the game, but it's never punishing or frustrating. And you can still have your characters progress at a
faster rate if you prefer.
Benefits are probably the best progression option in the game. When your character attains new
ranks you get Skill Benefits, linked to your skills, and Loyalty Benefits, linked to the organizations
you work with or for during your adventures. Benefits can grant you all kind of boons, ranging from
special bonuses and advantages to in-game use of facilities like specialized laboratories, starships,
etc.
You get destiny points, which let you re-roll, change the result from failure to success, etc. These
are assigned based on a simple but very effective rule that helps compensate some of the character's
weaknesses when they have particularly low abilities or lack the skills to survive dangerous
situations, like for example combat.
At the end of the Handbook you get a full set of 20 pre-generated characters (Archetypes), which
cover a wide range of specializations. These are incredibly well made and really make you want to
check them out and play them!
Content
A ton of weapons, armors and technology is included in the Equipment chapter. You'll find
everything you need here, and a lot of surprisingly clever and interesting pieces of equipment (like
for example all the different kinds of Scanners). A special mention should be made for how well the
game combines different kinds of damage (physical, energy, sonic, stun...) in a very simple and
effective way.
With dedicated chapters for Robots, Vehicles and Starships full of pre-generated, ready to use stuff,
the Handbook packs a whole lot of content considering the price.
There's also a chapter on the standard setting for the game, which is exhaustive enough to get you
started and interesting enough to spark your imagination. The galactic map of the Frontier (the
sector of space where the setting takes place) you get together with the manual is really well made
and useful. The game never forces you to use the included setting, but it's a great starting point for
your adventures.
Conclusion
The game is a must have for any Sci-Fi RPG enthusiast out there. Whether you like hard sci-fi,
space opera, cyberpunk or any other sci-fi-related genre, this game has all you need to kick off a
great and incredibly fun series of adventures!
We never stopped playing it after the playtest, and are sure to keep at it for many long years yet. )
Rating [5 of 5 Stars!]
Introduction
The Basics
Character Creation
Species
Skills (12, with specializations for Art, Academic and Technician)
Equipment and Technology
Character Development
Robots
Vehicles (which come with upgrade options, but not so much construction)
Starships
Frontier settings
Archetypes
Character sheets It has enough to keep you busy for a few game sessions, possibly a whole
campaign! It has its own world and the background is light and fluffy as the tradition. In my opinion
its worth at least the $9.99 price-tag for the pdf. Go ahead check it out! As a sci-fi game its got
potential and I say get in on the ground floor and ride this baby to the top - woohoo!
Post script or notes Editing and spelling corrections are brought to you by Anne House, not only is
she Beautiful wife and my bestie Friend and fellow Gamer,, but she is a fair enough editor and Very
fine Writer and game master.
Rating [4 of 5 Stars!]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]
FrontierSpace Referee's Handbook
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Jeff C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/16/2017 09:30:53
FrontierSpace Referee’s Handbook Wow! This book made two very strong first impressions on me.
The first is the speed at which it came out. I never expected to see the Referee’s manual so fast on
the heels of the FS Player’s Handbook. It’s rare to see such good production quality and well-timed
execution from a game company.
The second very good impression this game made on me was, at first glance, I was almost looking
for a boxed set with the Player’s book, some maps, player handouts, cardboard counters, a poster,
some plain dice, and a crayon to “ink” the dice. Then I realized the sheer volume of this book.
While I wax nostalgic for the good old days of boxed sets which are now all but obsolete because of
prohibitive costs, this really did remind me of diving into one for the first time.
As gamemaster books go, this one is by far one of the most well put together, professional, and
useful I have seen in the last twenty years of being a player, gm and writer. I love everything about
this book from cover to cover. It shows a real passion for not just the game and the genre, but for
being a referee as well. We know this game has its roots firmly in old school Star Frontiers, and this
book not only emulates those golden days of sci-fi gaming, but goes far beyond the scope of quality
the old T$R designers could have only dreamed about back then. This is one of the few
Referee/GM/DM guides I have ever dove into and gone from cover to cover just amazed at
everything. I can only think of a handful of gaming books that have ever captivated me this much.
Thank you Bill and Larry. It brings me back to my younger years.
A quick romp through all of the chapters. Chapter 1 is a basic Referee’s how-to for running the
game itself. There’s an alignment system of sorts; earning/spending DP; a lot of the standard RPG
fare of how to deal with combat, injuries, repairs, etc; npcs; and psionics. Normally psionics in any
game is a major turnoff for me the moment I see them. (I feel like it turns every game into a supers
campaign of sorts.) However, FS saves the day on this by giving differing levels of psionics
available and leaves it in the hands of the ref up front. Thank you for that!
Chapter 2 is all about technology. I found some of this chapter reminiscent of Covert Ops, which is
cool because I like that game and the weapon quality table therein. This chapter does a lovely job
covering all of the mundane-ish aspects of life in space and helps a GM decide where he should
probably set the tech level for his campaign. The weapon, robot, vehicle, and starship qualities
tables really add to the game, should you choose to use them.
Chapter 3 is so outstanding, it could have been an entire sourcebook by itself. Back in the day, it
probably would have been a couple of pages in the GM Manual and a separate $12 sourcebook later
on. Regardless, this chapter covers everything you could ever want from a xenomorph with acid for
blood all the way up to all the freaky looking aliens wandering around in the cantina or zocalo of
your favorite sci-fi franchises. Yes, there’s probably even a way to build those honor bound warrior
aliens with the ridges on their heads and arm them with their ‘battle-eths’, etc.
Chapter 4 is also a tip of the hat to Covert ops, but provides a ton of really good mission/adventure
building stock. Combined with the beautiful material from Chapter 5, it really would make for a
really cool hex crawl in space campaign. Again, Chapters 4 and 5 could probably stand on their own
as a sourcebook. Chapter 5 boldly does what many other hard sci-fi games have attempted before.
This chapter covers the generation of planets, planetary systems and sectors. It’s clear, concise, and
useful without going overboard. It’s not a catalog of everything possible under the stars, but enough
for most referees without having to go to work for NASA.
Chapter 6 is not long, but inspiring nonetheless. There’s a good primer on sci-fi games which a lot
of old school gamers already know, but invaluable to a new ref. The storytelling advice is brilliant
for any ref, and greater for a novice referee. There are also forms in the back of the book for
everything discussed in the chapters which prove very useful.
I’d also like to compliment the artwork in this game. Even the headers look great. The layout of this
book is clean, too. Overall, I can’t say enough good things about this book. If you’re looking to run
a science fiction game of any kind, this book is definitely worth a look. Even if you’re not planning
to run FrontierSpace, it’s a great resource for any space-based game.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]
This is a work of love and passion. You can see the guys at DwD studios put an insane amount of
work and energy into this project, and the result is a top notch, rules-lite, modern RPG which also
retains that nostalgic "old school" feeling.
The game is openly inspired to "old school" RPGs (specifically, the classic RPG "Star Frontiers"
from TSR), but don't get fooled: this is a modern game, which benefits from all the experience
gained in decades of Role-Playing.
The Referee's Handbook is the perfect companion for the Player's Handbook, and contains a ton of
useful info and material to help Referees create, manage and play adventures.
Presentation:
The layout is clean and professional. The art is very good, especially considering the low price of
the final product.
Content:
In perfect DwD Studios style, the manual packs a huge amount of useful content in its more than
200 pages, but it manages to keep it all simple and easy to use. You'll find everything you expect
from a Referee-oriented manual, including rules on action checks, situational modifiers, combat,
conditions, healing, repairing things, etc., but also some great info on more refined topics like how
to run investigations in your adventures.
There are dedicated sections on planetary and space travel and rules for robots and vehicles. The
starship combat and damage rules are particularly well written and detailed.
But where this manual really shines is the awesome generators. You get rules to generate custom
alien species to use for your PCs or NPCs (my players LOVED these rules, so much that almost all
of them wanted to create their own, unique species), to generate star systems (a must-have tool for
any sci-fi RPG Referee) and to generate adventures and campaigns. The latter is arguably the best
tool in the manual - it really contains everything a Referee needs to create great adventures, and it's
simple and compact. What impressed me more is that using this generator really sparked my
imagination in ways that I thought impossible for a system based on random tables!
Conclusion:
The game is a must have for any Sci-Fi RPG enthusiast out there. Whether you like hard sci-fi,
space opera, cyberpunk or any other sci-fi-related genre, this game has all you need to kick off a
great and incredibly fun series of adventures!
We never stopped playing it after the playtest, and are sure to keep at it for many long years yet. :)
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]
The supplement is about underwater adventuring, and opens up a whole new world of possibilities
for your Sci-Fi RPG enjoyment!
What's inside:
- New rules (including specific environmental hazards, equipment use and adaptation, vehicles, etc.)
- A sample setting, including a complete star system chart and details for Revulan, a very special
moon!
- Six new marine and amphibian creatures, each with its own special abilities and characteristics,
which can be used in the sample setting or imported straight away in your existing setting or
campaign
Want to check out a new, exiting Frontier in the depths of alien oceans ?